Zinedine Zidane greets the players at Ciudad Real Madrid
Most of the focus in La Liga, this weekend and every other, is on the sides at the top: Real Madrid and Barcelona, then Atletico Madrideven with the latter leading the pack. It"s inevitable, of course; those sides draw the biggest attention and have the biggest fanbases and the most exciting playersbut there is so much to play for elsewhere, too.
This time we"re looking in particular at the polar opposite: Levante hosting Rayo Vallecano on Saturday night, a prime-time kick-off slot, and a match that could feasibly go a long way to determining the rest of the season for one of those two teams.
Levante sit rock bottom, with just two wins all campaign and already four points behind their nearest rivals and six from safety.
They can"t keep losing games; it"s four league defeats on the spin already, and although the scorelines have been close1-0, 1-0, 2-0 and 2-1they have only netted one goal of their own during that run. Offensive frailty mixed with an inability to keep a clean sheet is never a good combination.
Levante"s despair as they concede a late winner to Atletico Madrid
Rayo sit one place above Levante, but the gap for themselves to safety is just two points. A win could theoretically lift them to 15th placethere"s a big group of sides just around and above the dotted line of the relegation zone, and the order continually changes. Even so, Paco Jemez"s men have slipped dangerously of late, losing five on the spin before a 2-2 draw last time out. They also then drew with Atletico Madrid in the Copa del Rey in midweek, so at least some semblance of a revival can be seen.
A home win pushes Levante back toward the pack. They need to catch up, hope Deyverson can fire a few more goals and that they get a big impact from new Colombian winger Mauricio Cuero. An away win, however, could leave the bottom club seriously adrift.
Las Palmas and Real Sociedad will be optimistic they can take something from their respective games, but Granada and Sporting face uphill battles.
The relegation struggle is very real for one or two teams already, and the clash of the bottom two this weekend could force one or two moves into the January transfer market as panic starts to set in.
Jornada 19(kick-off times per Soccerway)
Saturday
Barcelona vs. Granada
Getafe vs. Real Betis
Sevilla vs. Athletic Club
Real Madrid vs. Deportivo La Coruna
Levante vs. Rayo Vallecano
Sunday
Villarreal vs. Sporting Gijon
Real Sociedad vs. Valencia
Eibar vs. Espanyol
Las Palmas vs. Malaga
Celta Vigo vs. Atletico Madrid
What to Watch out for This Weekend
Part 1: Arda, Aleix, Matias, Augusto
The January transfer window might be a little more busy as time goes on in Spain, but this weekend is the first chance for a handful of players to make their league bow for new clubsthose who got into action quickly and signed their chosen ones in advance.
Arda Turan started for Barcelona in the Copa del Rey in midweek, as did Matias Kranevitter and Augusto Fernandez for Atletico Madrid. All three will now hope to be involved from the start in their teams" respective Liga matches, though one suspects Aleix Vidal will have to wait a little longer to be involved.
Elsewhere, Chory Castro has moved from Real Sociedad to Malaga, Samir has come from Udinese to Granada to boost their centre-back options and Levante broke their transfer record to pay 3.5 million for Cuerothey need the winger to have a quick, and big, impact.
Part 2: Villarreal"s Opportunity
A recent run of five successive wins in La Liga not only has them in fourth place, but it has also opened up a five-point gap between themselves and Celta Vigo in fiftha very reasonable buffer to push hopes of reaching the Champions League next season.
This week, however, it could get even better for the Yellow Submarine.
Villarreal manager Marcelino
The way the fixtures come together this weekend, they could be extremely closely grouped together in with the top three, while opening an even more significant gap down to the Europa League spotshome to Sporting, they will expect to win if Marcelino plays a full-strength side, but the same can"t be said for the rest of the teams.
Celta at home to Atletico is very tough to call, and a draw wouldn"t be a bad result for either side, in truththough, with Celta having lost their last two and Atleti top after four wins in five, as well as having poached Celta"s holding midfielder, the away team will be looking to emerge victorious and stay top. Athletic are away to Sevilla, again a tough matchup, and both Depor and Eibar are too far behind Celta to leapfrog them if they win and Celta lose.
Villarreal could be looking at a seven-point gap between themselves and the rest of the chasers this weekend, and exciting times would lie ahead.
Players to Watch: James and Isco, RMA
There are two players to watch this week, and presumably one of them isn"t even starting the match. There has been so much talk about James Rodriguez and Isco under Rafael Benitez that it seems everyone has ignored the fact that they can"tboth start games, unless one of the "BBC" attack drops out instead.
Marca report this week that Zidane has rejected any possibility of Isco leaving for Juventus in Januarybut if that"s because he sees the Spaniard playing a key role, and he has already said that he will "always" play Karim Benzema, Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale together, perhaps that will leave Colombian midfielder James wondering just what part he"ll play.
There are others to watch out for, but on this particular occasion, which of these two get to feature from the start could be telling, both for January and the remainder of the season.
Game of the Weekend: Real Madrid vs. Deportivo
It kind of has to be the game of the weekend: Zinedine Zidane"s first game in charge of Real, indeed his first game in charge of any notable top-flight club ever. The knives will be sharpened in certain quarters if he doesn"t hit the ground running, and elsewhere, eyes will be keen to see how he sets up and who is favoured to start.
Zinedine Zidane prepares his players ahead of his first match as Real Madrid manager
Depor, though, have proved extremely tough to break down and beat this seasonthey are coming to the Santiago Bernabeu with the intention of spoiling the party, there"s no doubt about it. With Lucas Perez, Luis Alberto and one or two other attackers looking in fine form this season, Depor have the ability to hit Real on the breakand having only conceded 18 this term, the same tally as Real themselves, they won"t be easily penetrated either.
The Real players themselves have to make a statement, have to show that theyare capable of more than they gave under Rafael Benitez and that they are playing for the shirt, not just picking and choosing which manager they opt to fight for or otherwise.
Real have four points to make up at the top of the table. A win in Zidane"s first game sets the platform for the recovery to startbut Depor will be hoping for a point, perhaps even more, to continue their own push for European football.
Predictions and Tips
- Home wins: Barcelona, Levante, Villarreal, Eibar
- Away wins: Valencia, Malaga
- Both teams to score: SEV-ATH, RMA-DEP, RSO-VAL, CEL-ATM.
Source: http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2606088-ultimate-guide-to-la-liga-weekend-zidanes-real-madrid-boss-debut-and-transfers
